What is rowID & rowNum (ROWID vs ROWNUM)

Rownum (numeric) = Generated Sequence Number of your output.
Rowid (hexadecimal) = Generated automatically at the time of insertion of row.

SELECT rowid,rownum fROM EMP


ROWID ROWNUM                 
----- ---------------------- 
AAAR4AAAFAAGzg7AAA, 1                      
AAAR4AAAFAAGzg7AAB, 2                      
AAAR4AAAFAAGzg7AAC, 3                      
AAAR4AAAFAAGzg7AAD, 4                      
AAAR4AAAFAAGzg7AAE, 5      

Both, ROWNUM and ROWID are pseudo columns.

Rowid

For each row in the database, the ROWID pseudo column returns the address of the row.

An example query would be:

SELECT ROWID, last_name  
   FROM employees
   WHERE department_id = 20;

More info on rowid here: https://docs.oracle.com/cd/B19306_01/server.102/b14200/pseudocolumns008.htm

Rownum

For each row returned by a query, the ROWNUM pseudo column returns a number indicating the order in which Oracle selects the row from a table or set of joined rows. The first row selected has a ROWNUM of 1, the second has 2, and so on.

You can limit the amount of results with rownum like this:

SELECT * FROM employees WHERE ROWNUM < 10;

More info on rownum here: https://docs.oracle.com/cd/B19306_01/server.102/b14200/pseudocolumns009.htm

Difference

The actual difference between rowid and rownum is, that rowid is a permanent unique identifier for that row. However, the rownum is temporary. If you change your query, the rownum number will refer to another row, the rowid won't.

So the ROWNUM is a consecutive number which applicable for a specific SQL statement only. In contrary the ROWID, which is a unique ID for a row.

1. Rowid gives the address of rows or records. Rownum gives a count of records
2. Rowid is permanently stored in the database. Rownum is not stored in the database permanently
3. Rowid is automatically assigned with every inserted into a table. Rownum is a dynamic value automatically retrieved along with select statement output.
4. It is only for display purpose.